By ADAM CLYMER,

Published: September 13, 1995

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12—
The House Judiciary Committee voted today to overturn a recommendation by the Federal Sentencing Commission to equalize penalties for possession of crack and powdered cocaine.

The five-member commission of judges and lawyers, which set sentencing guidelines for Federal crimes a decade ago and continually reevaluates them, concluded in February that there was an unfair racial disparity in the treatment of the two types of cocaine.

Most people convicted of crack cocaine possession are black, and possession of five grams or more requires a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison. Most people convicted of possession of powder cocaine are white, but the five-year mandatory minimum sentence applies only to possession of 500 grams or more.

On a voice vote that appeared to follow party lines, the change was defeated. ADAM CLYMER